The Dana Dolly, now with curves

Back in the day, the only way to get a steady camera move was to rent a large, cumbersome dolly that needed two or three bodybuilders to push it around.

Those days are thankfully gone and modern camera operators have a whole host of ways to move the camera. One of these is the Dana Dolly.

The Dana Dolly–for those of you new to the concept–is an affordable dolly platform that can mount a camera rig weighing up to 100 pounds and move it simply by pushing the camera by hand.

Don’t be fooled by what appear to be skateboard wheels on the dolly. Those are in fact precision-engineered marvels rounded to within 1/1000 of an inch to create a perfect gliding camera move. Try to build your own out of skate wheels and plywood and…you’re in for a bumpy ride.
One of the great features of the Dana Dolly is it’s use of industry-standard speed rail for track. This is a much more affordable solution than traditional dolly track. But it has a trade off: Speed rail is straight, so your Dana Dolly is forced to move in a straight line.

Not any more. The good people at American Grip have now released curved track for the Dana Dolly. Sold in 10 foot sections (outer rail, 9 foot on the inner) it’s the perfect solution when you want to dolly around your subject rather than alongside it.

Smooth, single-operator camera motion, now with curves. What are you waiting for?